As some of my followers may remember, I chose the title of my upcoming fantasy romance (The Solitary Rose) after testing out possible titles in a Twitter poll. I originally leaned towards calling the story some variation of ” ____ and the Beast,” but other people thought The Solitary Rose was a more evocative title.

As it is, I’m glad that “The Beau and the Beast” did not win. While that title has merit, I don’t think it fits my novel as well. It’s also the English title of a manhwa (Korean comic), which could have led to some confusion.

What I didn’t know when I suggested The Solitary Rose as a title was that Christina Rossetti wrote a poem called “The Solitary Rose” as a young writer! You can find it in the Juvenilia section of her 1896 New Poems anthology. Her poem takes the image of a single, reclusive red rose in a very different direction than I did. But for the Victorianist in me, stumbling on this poem was exciting, even though it’s not Rossetti’s best work.

Anyway, thanks to all the Twitter friends who helped me decide on The Solitary Rose as a title! At this point, it’s hard to imagine calling the book anything else.